Obituaries in the news

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – The father of the late "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert, the inspiration for his son's best-selling book about their relationship and lessons learned, has died.

The family of Timothy Joseph Russert issued a statement saying he died Thursday of natural causes at age 85.

The elder Russert, known as Big Russ, grew up in south Buffalo and worked two full-time jobs, driving a city sanitation truck and a Buffalo News delivery truck, to support his family.

The younger Russert, who died of a heart attack at 58 in June 2008, paid tribute to his father's blue-collar values and eternal optimism in the 2004 best-seller "Big Russ & Me." The book was a series of lessons the journalist said he learned from his father, a World War II veteran whose favorite expression, according to his son, was "what a country!"

The elder Russert was a longtime member of the Blackthorn Club, an Irish-heritage social club whose members meet monthly at a Buffalo pub for corned beef and cabbage and conversation. On Friday, the club's president recalled a 2007 meeting attended by Russert's famous son, NBC camera crew in tow.

Roche visited Russert in a Buffalo-area residential care facility about six weeks ago.

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Alicia de Larrocha

MADRID (AP) – Spanish pianist Alicia de Larrocha who thrilled music listeners for decades with polished and enthralling interpretations of great classical works, has died aged 86.

Music producer and family friend Gregor Benko says de Larrocha died late Friday in a hospital in her native Barcelona.

Measuring just under 5 feet tall, and with unusually small hands for a piano virtuoso, de Larrocha won listeners over with the richness and robustness of her sound. Critically acclaimed for her polished technique in performing Mozart, Beethoven, Schuman and Rachmaninov, de Larrocha was also unrivaled in her interpretation of Spanish composers such as Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz.

De Larrocha retired from public performances in 2003, after 75 years as a pianist.

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Bob Stupak

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Bob Stupak, a colorful gambler and the developer of the 1,149-foot Stratosphere tower on the Las Vegas Strip, died Friday at a hospital after a long fight with leukemia. He was 67.

A spokeswoman for Stupak's family said Friday that the casino entrepreneur died Friday afternoon at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas.

Stupak, known for outlandish promotions, opened the $550 million Stratosphere hotel-casino in 1996 in hopes that the tower would attract millions of visitors to Sin City. The tower was conceived in 1990 as a way to promote the Stratosphere's predecessor, Stupak's Vegas World casino.

The Stratosphere filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and was eventually taken over by billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1942, Stupak moved to Las Vegas in 1971 and in 1974 opened Bob Stupak's World Famous Historic Gambling Museum at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue.

Stupak, who called himself the "Polish Maverick" was officially named "Mr. Las Vegas" in 1996 by then-mayor Jan Jones. He once bet $1 million on the Super Bowl and won, taking the Cincinnati Bengals in 1989. The Bengals lost the game 20-16 to the San Francisco 49ers, but San Francisco failed to cover the seven point spread.